The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-01-05
THE FLYING YEARS.
REV. 7. De WITT TALMAGE'S NEW
YEAR SERMON.


concerning the longevity Of the patriarchs.
He gave out the hymn beginning:
My days are gliding swiftly by,
And I. pilgrim stranger.
Would not detain them as they fly,
Those hours Of toll and danger.
His text was Genesis, Xvii, 8: @How Old
Art Thoup The preacher said:
The Egyptian capital was the focus of the
worlds wealth. In ships and barges there
had been brought TO it from India franklin
cense, and cinnamon, and ivory and dia-
monds; from the north, marble and iron;
from Syria, purple and silk; from Greece,
some Of the finest horses OF the world, and
some OF the most brilliant chariots, and from
all the earth that which could best please the
eye, and charm the ear, and crafty the taste
There were temples af1ane with red sand
stone, entered by the gateways that were
guarded by pillars bewildering with hero
glyphics and wound with brazen serpents
and adorned with winged creatures-their
eyes, and beaks, and pinions glitter
ing with precious stones. There were
marble columns blooming into white
flower beds; there were stone pillars at
the top bursting into the shape of the lotus
when in full bloom. Along the avenues,
lined with sphinx and fame and obelisk, there
were princes who came in gorgeously uphol-
stored palanquin, carried by servants in scar
let, or elsewhere drawn by vehicles, the
snow white horses, golden-bitted and six
abreast, dashing at full run. There were
fountains from stone wreathed vases climb
ing the ladders Of the light You would hear
bolt shove and door Of brass would open
like fash of the sun. The surrounding
gardens were saturated with odors that
mounted the terrace and dripped from the
arbOrs, and burned their incense in the Egyp-
tian noon. On floors of mosaic the glories OF
Pharaoh were spelled out in letters Of
porphyry and beryl and flame. There were
ornaments twisted from the wood of tam
nrisk, embossed with silver, breaking into
foam. There were footstools made out Of
single precious stone. There were beds fash
toned out of crouched lion in bronze. There
were chairs spotted with the sleek hides Of
leopards. There were sofas footed with the
claws Of wild beasts and armed with the
beaks Of birds. AS you stand the level
beach Of the sea on a summer day and look
either way and there are miles Of breakers,
white with the ocean foam, dashing shore
ward; 50 it seemed as If the sea Of the worlds
pomp and wealth in the Egyptian capital for
miles and miles flung itself up into white
breakers of marble temple, mausoleum and
obelisk
IL was TO this capital and the palace OF
Pharaoh that Jacob the plain shepherd,
came 70 meet his son Joseph, who had become
prime minister in the royal apartment. Pha
raoh and Jacob meet dignity and rusticity
the gracefulness Of the court ard the plain
manners OF the field. The king, wanting to
make the old countryman at ease, and seeing
how white his beard is and how feeble his
step, looks Familiarity into his face and says
10 the aged man: "How old art thoup
opened TO let in, amid the great throng of de-
parted centuries, the soul of the dying year
Under the twelfth stroke of the brazen ham
Iner Of the city clock the patriarch fell dead,
and the stars of the night were the funeral
torches. 1t is most fortunate that on this
road of life there are so many milestones, on
which we can read just how fast we are going
toward the journeys end. feel that it is not
an inappropriate question that l ask to-day
when look into your faces and say, as Pha-
raoh did TO Jacob, the patriarch; "How old
art thoup
People who are truthful on every other
subject, lie about their ages, so that / do not
solicit from you any literal response to the
question have asked l would put no one
under temptation; but | simply want this
morning, TO see by what rod it is are
measuring our earthly existence. There is a
door, or a wall, or an arch, or a tower, and
so there is right way and wrong way of
measuring our earthly existence. 1t is with
reference to this higher meaning that l con-
front you, this morning, with the stupendous
question of the text, and ask: "How old art
thouP
There are many who estimate their life by
mere worldly qualification. When Lord
Dundas was wished happy New Year, he
said: ut viii have to be "a happier year than
the past, for hadn't one happy moment in
all the twelve months that have gone" But
that has not been the experience of most of
us. We have found that though the world is
blasted with sin, it is a very bright and beau
tiful place to reside in We have had joys
innumerable There is no hostility between
the gospel and the merriments and the festiv-
tiles of life. / do not think that we fully
enough appreciate the worldly pleasures God
gives u.s. When you recount your enjoy
ments, you do not go far enough back. Why
do you not 60 back TO the time when you
were an infant in your mothers arms, look
ing up into the heaven of her smile; to
those days when you filed the house with the
uproar of boisterous merriment; when you
shouted as you pitched the ball on the play
ground; when, on the cold, sharp winter
night, mufiled up, on skates you shot out over
the resounding ice of the pondl Have you
forgotten all those good days that the Lord
gave youl Were you never boys Were
you never girll Between those times and
this, how many mercies, how many kind
neSses the Lord has bestowed upon you. How
many joys have breathed up to you from
the flowers, and shone down to you from the
stars and chanted to you with the voice of
soaring bird, and tumbling cascade, and
booming sea, and thunders that with bayo-
nets of fire charged down the mountain sidel
Joyl Joyl Joyl If there is any one who
has right to the enjoyments of the world it is
the Christian, for God has given him lease
to everything in the promise: "All are
yours" But | have to tell you that a
man who estimates his life on earth by
mere worldly qualification is most unwise
man. Onr life is not to be game of chess.
1t is not a dance in lighted hall, to quick
music. 1t is not the froth of an ale pitcher.
1t is not the settings of a wine cup. 1t is not
a banquet with intoxication and registering.
1t is the first step on a ladder that mounts
into the skies, or the first step on a road that
plunges into horrible abyss So that in this
world we are only keying up the harp of a
rapture, or forging the chain of bondage
And standing before you, to-day, with life
on the one side and death ON the other; song
on the one side and grooming on the other
mansions on the one side and dungeons on the
other; heaven on the one side and hell on the
other-I put to you the question OF the text
show old art thouF Towards what destiny
ars you tending and how fast are you get
ting ON towards it,
Again, remark that there are many who
estimate their life on earth by their sorrows
and their misfortunes. Through a great
many of your lives the ploughshare hath
gone very deep, turning up terrible furrow.
You have been betrayed and misrepresented,
and set upon, and slapped of impertinence,
and pounded of misfortune The brightest
life must have its shadows and the smoothest
path its thorns. On the happiest brood the
hawk pounces No escape from trouble Of
some kind. While glorious John Milton was
losing his eyesight he heard that Salmasius
was glad Of it, While Sheridan's comedy was
being enacted in Drury Lane theatre, Cum
berland, his enemy, sat growing at it in the
stage box While Bishop Cooper was sur
rounded by the favor of learned men his wife
took his lexicon manuscript, the result of a
long life Of anxiety and toll and threw it into
the IRE Misfortune, trial, vexation for al
most every one Pope, applauded Of all the
world, has stoop in the shoulder that annoys
him 50 much that he has tunnel dug,so that
he may go unobserved from garden to grotto
and from grotto to garden. Cano, the
famous Spanish artist, is disguised
with the cruciax that the priest holds
before him, because it is such poor speci-
men OF culture. And so, sometimes through
taste and sometimes through learned menace.
and sometimes through physical distress
aye, in ten thousand ways, troubles come to
harsss and annoy. And yet it is unfair to
measure mans life by his misfortunes, be-
cause where there is one stalk of nightshade
there are fifty marigolds and harebells: where
10 ~. ~